


Help

by BuddyTheMeanPeacock



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 08:28:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24467986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuddyTheMeanPeacock/pseuds/BuddyTheMeanPeacock
Summary: Their army downtrodden and weak, Dimitri knows the Kingdom army needs assistance from a mighty force in order to retake Fhirdiad. Marianne, it just so happens, knows of an ally they can call on.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Claude von Riegan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 58





	Help

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Silmarwen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silmarwen/gifts).



> A gift for Silmarwen, who always comments on my works and is just a great person!! They asked for this forever ago (Dimitri asking for Dragon!Claude's help in retaking Fhirdiad from Cornelia) and I finally got to finishing it ;w; I hope you like it!

Gronder was hell.

It was a supposed victory for the Kingdom: they forced the Empire to retreat and managed to convince the Alliance back to cordial relations. But the losses they took were grave, many a good soldier horribly injured, crippled permanently, or killed outright. The loss of _Rodrigue_ \- it hurt to even think of the man as dead, but such was the truth, such was _his fault_ \- was especially damaging, his men demoralized by the loss of such a good man. The army was in shambles, moving forward by sheer force of will, by the utter want of independence from the Empire that caused all their suffering, but slowed down by the rot of fresh graves.

And he wanted to move on to Enbarr after such a battle. How thoughtless.

Dimitri now stands before the mountain of rubble in the cathedral, a now long familiar spot for his body to linger, the moonlight passing through the gap in the wall granting the space a strange air. It was a few days after his revelation in the rain with the professor, where he finally saw past the ghosts that have haunted him for so long now. Where he finally looked upon the living and saw that they too suffered, and that they were the ones that he could move to protect, not the spirits of those already passed. Dimitri has surveyed the army and saw the losses, the forlorn look in the eyes of so many soldiers. Enbarr was beyond impossible; it would be cruel to demand them to march onwards to certain death, even if their gaze held familiar dull eyes.

He wishes now to go to Fhirdiad. Gronder was unspeakable, another stain of Fodlan’s history that could never be washed away, but it was one battle. The streets of Fhirdiad held citizens; men, women and children who’ve been forced to witness the horrors of battle, to live under the boot of oppression, to watch as what little forces that fought back steadily dwindled. If nothing were done it would fall, her men killed, her commonfolk subjugated.

But what could he do? From what Gustave has told him Cornelia’s might was nigh untouched, bested only by the Empire’s. Demonic beasts, unparalleled mercenaries and soldiers - even, as unbelievable as it sounds, metallic titans the size of opera houses. If they were at their prime they would have a battle that was uphill at best; as they are, it was laughable to even think they stood a chance.

“Um… Dimitri?” 

He turns to the voice, startled. No one has yet to speak with him after that fateful night, still keeping their distance, their gazes toward him finally hopeful but still wary. On top of the night sky peering through the hole in the roof it was alarming to hear someone call for him. Especially given who the voice belonged to.

“Marianne?”

She jumps at his sharp turn towards her but recovers quickly. He remembers how timid she was as a student in the academy; she has grown much since then, it was clear. She takes a breath and looks him in the eye, her own filled with worry. “What are you doing up so late?”

He holds back a chuckle. “I could ask you much the same. But to answer your question, I am afraid the future is keeping sleep away from me at present.”

“The future…” she says quietly. “...What about it is keeping you awake?”

He tells her of the conundrum before them, their inability to retake Fhirdiad despite his deep wish to do so. Marianne nods, appearing to understand.

He takes a chance. “Do you have any idea if the Alliance can send aid?”

The sad look he receives answers his question. “Lorenz and Hilda wrote to me a couple of days after… Gronder.” She stumbles over the word. After a moment she keeps going, “They told me that the Alliance had taken a massive hit. They’ve done their best to keep Count Gloucester from turning to the Empire along with the others, but he’s cut ties with the Kingdom. The Alliance is back to being a neutral nation.”

Dimitri sighed and shut his eye. It was as he feared; the Kingdom is alone in the war once more.

“...But…”

Her hesitant tone made him look at her once more. Her face was scrunch in uncertainty, seeming to have regretted uttering the word and trying to think of a way out of the hole she put herself in. He didn’t press her for more; if she was going to say it it should be because she chose to, not because he ordered it.

Eventually she swallowed, took a deep breath in, then out, and whispered. “I… know someone… he could possibly help…”

Her voice was quiet, even in the silence of the cathedral. “Will he?” he asks, hearing the indecisiveness drip off of her words. 

“I-I… I don’t know…”

He leans slightly, to look at averted eyes. “Marianne, please. If he chooses not to help then we will think of something else. You have complete reign whether you ask this man for his assistance or not.”

She rubbed her hands together and closed her eyes, taking more deep breaths.

“I… I need a couple of days,” she says finally, eyes open and looking at Dimitri. “I’ll see what I can do…”

Dimitri smiles. “That is all I can ask of you. Thank you.”

It was small, but she smiled back.

\---  
  


She eventually came to him as she said she would.

“He wants to meet you,” she tells him, her eyes hopeful. “I can lead you to him, but he wishes to speak with you alone.”

It was suspicious, and dangerous, this man’s request. To ask for his lone presence was a prime set up for an ambush, a quick way to end the war and gain the Empire’s victory. But Marianne was slow to trust someone; for one to have gained it so that she was happy to gain their help, they must have some good in their heart. He believed in the woman’s intuition to hold true to that.

They tell the professor of his departure. The look in the green-haired mercenary’s eyes was potent, and Dimitri could nearly feel the raindrops on his face, the reason for such a look was so blatant. In the end, Marianne convinced them they were simply leaving to hopefully gather aid, and soon after they set off, supplies ready for the journey.

They spared little time for talking. The short moments they spent not riding they were resting, leaving no second wasted. Soon they reached a land that surprised Dimitri with its familiarity. 

They were in Galatea territory.

It was not a pretty site; it has never been, even before the war, the soil and land particularly ravished by Faerghus’ harsh colds and the plague of twenty years ago. The war merely put the miserable landscape in a more proper setting. There was no greenery to be seen, no crops growing, little livestock in the meager, dilapidated farms they passed. The people looked upon the pair, some in disgust, some in awe, most in quick seconds, turning away before they were noticed.

It gripped Dimitri’s heart with a strength he could never hope to match. He has seen his fair share of poverty in the years he spent mindlessly wandering the lands, but nothing could ever compete with the despairing air of Galatea.

It doesn’t have to be this way. It _won’t_ be this way once they’ve won.

They continue in silence, Marianne leading the way with a confidence rarely seen in her. It caused Dimitri to ponder; who could this man be? That his strength be so noteworthy as to instill such poise to one such as the woman before him? How could he have hidden himself and whatever army he must lead away from the war with such success that no one but Marianne seemed to know of him at all?

“We’re here.”

Said woman’s voice pulled him from his reverie. He looked up and saw in front of them a cave unparalleled in its size. Dimitri could not help but gape at the enormity of it; the grand castle he called home could fit within the rocky walls many times over. It was… intimidating, to say the least.

“You have to go on from here by yourself,” Marianne says; he doesn’t look away from the cave but he can hear the concern in her voice. “He won’t hurt you, but…” she stops herself. “Nevermind. Um… good luck,” she finishes after a moment. He can hear the beating of hooves on the dead soil echo through the air and then fade in the distance. Dimitri dismounted and tied his stead to a nearby decaying tree. It would do nothing to stop the animal from scurrying off should it get frightened, but he was unsure how “alone” he ought to be, whether the presence of a mount would cause the man he was to meet to pause.

He took in a breath as he walked into the massive cavern. The utter _emptiness_ of it was oppressive, nothing but the cold, biting air filling the space. It felt as though it wrapped around him, pressing against his chest, as though it was trying to steal his breath out from his lungs. It was humid, the space still cold but thick with moisture, a feeling he was unused to in the freezing lands of Faerghus. 

Who would live here?

The question circled his mind as he walked cautiously deeper, keeping his eye out for some sort of settlement. The cave seemed uninhabited, however; as he went on the emptiness persevered, no signs of life coming into sight. 

Until

He heard it

Breathing

Loud and echoing, it filled the air, capturing his attention in a vice grip. Marianne gave no warning of demonic beasts, and what he remembers of Galatea its lands were too poor to draw any of the creatures’ focus, so what could-

**“So you’ve made it!”**

Dimitri’s blood ran cold.

He heard _movement,_ the shuffling of something massive from something close. Footsteps soon followed, bouncing off of the walls and surrounding the prince, trapping him in place. He couldn’t move, the sound stilling his legs and his mind, and he stood there as the walls shook, the ground trembled, the sound grew louder and louder and _louder_ -

And from the shadows he saw it emerge.

A dragon.

He stood awestruck as the creature revealed itself fully. Hide a deep, earthy brown, interwoven with brilliant golden streaks up the muscly legs, throughout the magnificent wings, down the long neck and soft underside. The massive head turned down to look upon Dimitri’s puny form with eyes as green as the forests of the Alliance, beautiful and enchanting. Long, gorgeous, mesmerizing horns spiral outwards, rose to the heavens, sunk towards the earth. 

Dimitri couldn’t breath. _By the Goddess._

**“Don’t you know it’s rude to stare, human? If you keep gawking at me like that you’ll make me blush, hmhm,”** the dragon says, his voice teasing despite its power. 

Dimitri rights himself, closing his mouth he’d unknowingly left open and correcting his wide-eyed stare to something more appropriate. The dragon chuckles once more, lowering himself to the ground. **“There, now you look like the princely man Marianne spoke so highly of.”** The dragon tilted his head, a horn narrowly missing the ground. **“She says you need help,** ” he states, eyes revealing judgement.

Dimitri swallowed down his trepidation. “That is correct. A powerful sorceress has overtaken my people and I’s home. She is crushing any and all opposition against her with no regards to their innocence, with a force too great for our own to face with any chance of victory. We are desperate for any help that we can receive.”

For a moment they simply stand there, Dimitri staring unblinking into the green slitted eyes of the magnificent being before him. Finally, **“Hmm… desperate. That is quite the dangerous word you’re using, Your Princeliness,”** the dragon says. Dimitri tenses, but the dragon continues, **“Not that I would** **_ever_ ** **take advantage of such a strong plea.”** The dragon leans his head forward, horns dragging across and then into the rocky ground, the noise deafening, until his snout is right in front of Dimitri. The prince did his best to still the tremors racing through him, the urge to grab for _something_ and defend himself against the potential threat so close to him nearly overwhelming. 

_Sniff Sniff_

Two whiffs from the massive nostrils, disturbing Dimitr’s clothes and hair from the force, and the dragon’s head was back, stone and dirt falling off the curved horns as they left the earth. Dimitri could see a deep trench to his left, out of the edges of his sight.

**“Your blood… it’s also spiced.”**

...What? Dimitri couldn’t help the furrow in his brow at the dragon’s words. “I beg your pardon?”

**“Like Marianne,”** the dragon says simply. At Dimitri’s continued confusion he tilts his head back and sighs, deep, heavy and echoing. **“What did she call it…?”**

Like Marianne? And it’s their blood… Could he mean…?

“Crests?”

At the word the dragon started slightly, as though touched unexpectedly. “ **Yes! Sorry, I’m still not used to this land’s strange terminology.”**

The dragon looked down at Dimitri, a strange glint in his eyes. **“I haven’t been in this land for very long, but even so I still haven’t learned as much as I wanted to. My help in your fight should be enough to warrant some princely knowledge, don’t you think?”**

Dimitri couldn’t stop his eye from widening in shock and confusion. “You would lend your aid… for mere history lessons?”

The words left his mouth before he could think, and he felt shame course through him at the horrendous phrasing. The dragon laughed, loud and boisterous, but something about the look he gave betrayed the joyous front. **“** ** _Mere_ ** **history! Oh, poor human, you don’t know the power such a thing holds! While there are many things I don’t know** -”

And in an instant the dragon’s demeanor changed. He looked at Dimitri, a blank look accompanied with a strange smile on scaled lips. **“-there are many more things that** **_you_ ** **do not know.”**

Dimitri felt a chill run through his blood, as if it were replaced with ice water. The words felt like a threat, a warning of his fate. 

As if there was something coming.

The look disappeared with a wink. **“There are things I want to do that I need all the info I can get my hands on to get done. I’m sure a good little prince like you paid attention to his** **_mere history lessons_** **. Unless Marianne misread you.”**

The words stung, as he sure the dragon meant for them to. Dimitri bowed his head. “My sincerest apologies. I misspoke. It simply took me by surprise, but that is no excuse to demean the importance of history.”

He heard a chuckle. **“Well she definitely did** **_not_ ** **misread you…”** said the dragon in a... _quieter_ voice, though he could not be truly hushed. **“Raise your head, prince. My eyes are up here, in case you didn’t notice,”** the demand was teasing in tone but a demand nonetheless, and Dimitri complied promptly. **“Give me a few more days to think on this.”**

_A few days?_ They did not have much time; a firm confirmation is something that is direly needed. But it is also something he dare not push, after his misstep from before. This is likely the best he can make do with. 

He looked the dragon in the eye.

“Of course.”

He bowed, turned, and left. He heard no protest come from behind him.

\---

“ _Where_ in the Goddess’ name did you find such a being?”

The question burned and sizzled in Dimitri’s mind during the days long trek back to Garreg Mach, the magnitude of such a revelation too high to spout with the threat of eavesdropping around them in the open fields. Knowledge of the dragon ought to be kept to themselves until it is a sure fact that he will join their cause; the only thing that could break a moralized army is to have the very thing raising their spirits to be a lie, a mere trick. It was hard for Dimitri himself not to let his hopes overcome him, even with knowing how weak that hope’s foundation truly is.

That did not prevent curiosity from eating at him, however. The moment he and Marianne were alone, in the privacy of his room, he let the question free.

Marianne sighed. “It was during the academy. I needed to be alone for a while, and I… I wandered off of monastery grounds. It was just… I happened to find a cave, and, well…”

“You’ve known him for so long?”

It was… unimaginable. That such a brilliant creature had been so close to them all, and yet it seems Marianne is the only one to have encountered him. But then, it seemed she simply has a nature that lends itself to such discoveries; she was always more comfortable away from her fellow humans, he noticed.

She nodded. “At first he scared me so much, but… he was very nice, if a little strange.” She looked away then, a melancholy draping her features. “I hope he helps us…”

If the dragon was half as strong as he appeared to be he would be an indescribable help against Cornelia, effectively evening the odds, if not completely then by enough to make a difference. But that was only if he agreed to lend his aid.

Dimitri opened his mouth to reassure his worried friend when a knock came to his door, startling them both.

“Come in.” There was only one person who knew where he was.

The door opened to reveal Dedue, his face set in a stern expression. “Your Highness, there is someone requesting your permission to join the army.”

Dimitri nodded. After what happened the… last time he carelessly allowed whomever to join them, it led to a loss that broke many of their men. It was not something to take lightly. Not anymore.

He rose from his seat on his bed, but turned to Marianne before leaving. “We must keep our faith that we will prevail. Please, never forget that.”

Marianne’s eyes widened for a moment, and then she smiled and nodded “Okay, Dimitri.”

He smiled back, and left with Dedue.

They walked until they came to the knight’s hall, where this apparent recruit was being held. Dimitri saw the mint-green hair of the professor and broad stature of Gustave engaged in some sort of conversation with someone whom he could not see. Upon their approach the two stopped their talking to watch him and Dedue enter.

Gustave bowed deeply. “Your Highness,” he greets, before rising and continuing, “we await your judgement on whether we should allow this man to join us.”

“Yeesh, so formal.”

Dimitri froze.

Gustave turned his head to the voice behind him. “You will learn to treat His Highness with the respect he is due.” The glare in his eyes was heard in his voice.

“Hard to do that when I can’t see him, isn’t it?” And with that a figure slipped from between the professor and Gustave, coming into sight.

_Ba-bumpBa-bump-Ba-bump_

The man before him was… a _sight_. His modest dressing did nothing to hide the natural beauty he carried with him. Dark brown hair perfectly combed back save for some unruly strands that only serve to give the man even more charm, perfectly matched with his gorgeous complexion and striking smile, tied together flawlessly with his eyes.

His forest green eyes.

His familiar eyes.

Dimitri stood there, dumbfounded, as the _man_ stuck out his hand, the smile on his face growing even further as he threw out a wink.

  
“Nice to meet you, _Your Highness_. The name’s Claude. You’ll let me join, won’t you?”

**Author's Note:**

> I focused on the actual asking for help mostly, I really hope you don't mind!!


End file.
